The present invention relates to apparatus for resealing a plexible bag such as a bag made out of paper or plastic commonly used in the food industry. The present invention is particularly useful with potato chip bags and the like which typically have a large mouth formed entirely along one edge. When such a bag is opened by the consumer, it is difficult to reseal the bag to protect unused contents. Thus, unless such person consumes the entire contents of the bag, it is difficult to reseal. Accordingly, the contents often become stale which forces the consumer to dispose of the uneaten portion of the food. This, of course, is wasteful and costly, but is understandable since the flavor and texture of the food is destroyed in a very short time after opening the bag.
This problem has been recognized in the past and several different bag clamps or other closure devices have been proposed to remedy the problem of unwanted spoilage of food once a flexible food container has been opened by the consumer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,324, issued Apr. 25, 1967 to Ward discloses a bag closing device in the form of a clip having a pair of arms hinged together with the arms pivotal between an open and closed position. The clamp may thus be closed around the mouth of a bag and the arms secured together by means of a fastening clip. U.S. Pat. No. 3,571,861, issued Mar. 23, 1981 to Olson and U.S. Pat. No. 1,459,735, issued June 26, 1923 to Kraft also disclose similar bag clamps wherein a pair of arms are pivotally attached at one end so that the arms may be placed around the mouth of a bag once it has been opened. The free ends of the arms in each of these clamps are then securable to one another to clamp the mouth of the bag between the arms to substantially seal it against reopening. U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,905, issued Dec. 20, 1971 to Cote also shows a bag clamp with this clamp having a pair of hinged magnetic arms adapted to receive the mouth of a flexible bag with the arms being biased into a closed position so as to seal a bag placed therebetween.
While the prior art devices have accomplished their general objective, these devices have lacked any adjustment feature to accomodate bags of differing sizes. Indeed, several of these devices require that the mouth of the bag be bunched together in order to fit between the pivotal arms which, while appropriate for such items as bread wrappers and the like, is not suitable for other flexible bags such as used in the snack food industry. Further, the above-described bag clamps known in the prior art do not positively grip the bag in a direction parallel to the open mouth.